La Chaux-de-Fonds District was one of the six districts of the
canton of Neuchâtel
The Republic and Canton of Neuchâtel (french: République et Canton de Neuchâtel); rm, Chantun Neuchâtel; it, Cantone di Neuchâtel is a French-speaking canton in western Switzerland. In 2007, its population was 169,782, of whom 39,654 (o ...
,
Switzerland
). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...
, until the district level was eliminated on 1 January 2018. The district capital was the town of
La Chaux-de-Fonds
La Chaux-de-Fonds () is a Swiss city in the canton of Neuchâtel. It is located in the Jura mountains at an altitude of 1000 m, a few kilometers south of the French border. After Geneva, Lausanne and Fribourg, it is the fourth largest city loc ...
. It had a population of 39,796.
Municipalities
La Chaux-de-Fonds contains three
municipalities
A municipality is usually a single administrative division having corporate status and powers of self-government or jurisdiction as granted by national and regional laws to which it is subordinate.
The term ''municipality'' may also mean the go ...
:
Demographics
La Chaux-de-Fonds district had a population () of 39,796.
Most of the population () speaks
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
(32,804 or 85.8%) as their first language,
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
is the second most common (1,344 or 3.5%) and
Portuguese
Portuguese may refer to:
* anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal
** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods
** Portuguese language, a Romance language
*** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language
** Portu ...
is the third (1,175 or 3.1%). There are 945 people who speak
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany (of or related to)
**Germania (historical use)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law
**Ger ...
and 32 people who speak
Romansh.
[
, the population was 48.1% male and 51.9% female. The population was made up of 12,983 Swiss men (33.5% of the population) and 5,616 (14.5%) non-Swiss men. There were 15,077 Swiss women (39.0%) and 5,025 (13.0%) non-Swiss women.][Canton of Neuchatel Statistics](_blank)
, ''République et canton de Neuchâtel - Recensement annuel de la population'' accessed 13 October 2011
Of the population in the district, 15,595 or about 40.8% were born in La Chaux-de-Fonds and lived there in 2000. There were 4,229 or 11.1% who were born in the same canton, while 7,172 or 18.8% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 9,747 or 25.5% were born outside of Switzerland.[
, there were 14,871 people who were single and never married in the district. There were 17,843 married individuals, 2,700 widows or widowers and 2,824 individuals who are divorced.][STAT-TAB Datenwürfel für Thema 40.3 - 2000]
accessed 2 February 2011
There were 7,211 households that consist of only one person and 786 households with five or more people.
The historical population is given in the following chart:
Politics
In the 2007 federal election
This electoral calendar 2007 lists the national/federal direct elections held in 2007 in the de jure and de facto sovereign states and their dependent territories. Referendums are included, although they are not elections. By-elections are not i ...
the most popular party was the SP which received 27.76% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SVP (25.93%), the PdA Party (13.98%) and the Green Party
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
(11.92%). In the federal election, a total of 10,791 votes were cast, and the voter turnout
In political science, voter turnout is the participation rate (often defined as those who cast a ballot) of a given election. This can be the percentage of registered voters, eligible voters, or all voting-age people. According to Stanford Unive ...
was 47.3%.
Religion
From the , 11,545 or 30.2% were Roman Catholic
Roman or Romans most often refers to:
*Rome, the capital city of Italy
*Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD
*Roman people, the people of ancient Rome
*'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...
, while 10,955 or 28.6% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church
The Protestant Church in Switzerland (PCS), (EKS); french: Église évangélique réformée de Suisse (EERS); it, Chiesa evangelica riformata in Svizzera (CERiS); rm, Baselgia evangelica refurmada da la Svizra (BRRS) formerly named Federation o ...
. Of the rest of the population, there were 207 members of an Orthodox church (or about 0.54% of the population), there were 302 individuals (or about 0.79% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 2,418 individuals (or about 6.32% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 132 individuals (or about 0.35% of the population) who were Jewish
Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...
, and 1,372 (or about 3.59% of the population) who were Islam
Islam (; ar, ۘالِإسلَام, , ) is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic Monotheism#Islam, monotheistic religion centred primarily around the Quran, a religious text considered by Muslims to be the direct word of God in Islam, God (or ...
ic. There were 91 individuals who were Buddhist
Buddhism ( , ), also known as Buddha Dharma and Dharmavinaya (), is an Indian religion or philosophical tradition based on teachings attributed to the Buddha. It originated in northern India as a -movement in the 5th century BCE, and ...
, 83 individuals who were Hindu
Hindus (; ) are people who religiously adhere to Hinduism.Jeffery D. Long (2007), A Vision for Hinduism, IB Tauris, , pages 35–37 Historically, the term has also been used as a geographical, cultural, and later religious identifier for ...
and 47 individuals who belonged to another church. 10,265 (or about 26.85% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic
Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...
or atheist
Atheism, in the broadest sense, is an absence of belief in the existence of deities. Less broadly, atheism is a rejection of the belief that any deities exist. In an even narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there no ...
, and 2,014 individuals (or about 5.27% of the population) did not answer the question.[
]
Education
In La Chaux-de-Fonds about 12,764 or (33.4%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 4,056 or (10.6%) have completed additional higher education (either university
A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...
or a ''Fachhochschule
A ''Fachhochschule'' (; plural ''Fachhochschulen''), abbreviated FH, is a university of applied sciences (UAS), in other words a German tertiary education institution that provides professional education in many applied sciences and applied arts ...
''). Of the 4,056 who completed tertiary schooling, 52.0% were Swiss men, 28.5% were Swiss women, 11.8% were non-Swiss men and 7.7% were non-Swiss women.[
In the canton of Neuchâtel most municipalities provide two years of non-mandatory ]kindergarten
Kindergarten is a preschool educational approach based on playing, singing, practical activities such as drawing, and social interaction as part of the transition from home to school. Such institutions were originally made in the late 18th cent ...
, followed by five years of mandatory primary education. The next four years of mandatory secondary education is provided at thirteen larger secondary schools, which many students travel out of their home municipality to attend. During the 2010-11 school year, there were 40 kindergarten classes with a total of 762 students in District de la Chaux-de-Fonds. In the same year, there were 116 primary classes with a total of 2,102 students.Statistical Department of the Canton of Neuchâtel
Mémento de l'année scolaire 2010/2011 accessed 17 October 2011
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:La Chaux-De-Fonds (District)
Districts of the canton of Neuchâtel